This strip finally ties together the last little arc we’ve had running across the year’s end: those of you who are new to the strip (or who got a little jolly over Christmas/New Years and are now suffering some hazy memories from that time), you might like to check out the arc where it began, over at Strip #151.

Also, in case anyone was wondering – yes, Fatale took her sword back before she took off with the Major, hence it’s no longer sticking out of Agent 42. I imagine 42 wasn’t too happy about the only plug to his gaping wound disappearing, but he wasn’t really in much shape to argue the point…

Now that we have the last loose end tied off, we can start the new year in earnest! And, thanks to the slower update schedule over the past couple of weeks, I’m even managing to get a little ahead and set us up nicely for an uninterrupted year ahead (a few-day bout of food poisoning/gastro notwithstanding….look, in future I’ll try and remember that when something smells a bit funny that means “throw it out”, not “well, I better eat ALL of it now before my wife realises it’s gone bad and I’m not allowed to eat it anymore”, but for now it’s probably best not to go into the details of those fun-filled days) – to keep this buffer nice and healthy, there will again be no Sunday post this week, and the next post will be Wednesday the 15th January.

Thanks again for reading everyone, I really look forward to the stories Average Joe will bring you over the coming year, and I can’t wait to get these strips in front of you; I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I have